Door for a household appliance

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a door for a household appliance. The door includes a door body having an appliance-side plate and an outer-side decorative panel spaced from the appliance-side plate by a gap. A profiled cover extends at least between a portion of a side of the appliance-side plate to a portion of a side of the outer-side decorative panel such that the profiled cover closes off a side edge extent of the gap.

The present invention relates to a door for a household appliance suchas a refrigerator or freezer cabinet, a dishwasher or similar.

Household appliances which are built into kitchen furniture in a knownmanner or are placed adjacent to said furniture are frequently providedon their front side with a decor panel of which the design correspondsto that of the furniture doors. To achieve a precisely flush arrangementof the furniture doors and the decor panels of the doors of thehousehold appliances, the latter are generally embodied from a number ofparts, from an appliance-side plate which handles the technicalfunctions of closing-off the inner space of the household appliance andas a rule is pre-mounted on the appliance ex-works, and the decor panelwhich is mounted later when the household appliance is set up at itsintended location with the aid of adjustable adapter pieces on thedevice-side plate, and essentially has an aesthetic function. Thenecessity of being able to adjust the position of the decor panel inrelation to the appliance-side plate means that there is mostly a gappresent between the two, which is aesthetically unsatisfactory, in whichdirt can collect or even into which small objects can fall.

The object of the present invention is to create a door for a householdappliance with a decor panel and the appliance-side plate with which thedisadvantages of the gap are avoided.

The object is achieved by a door of the type specified above in whichthe gap is closed around the edges by a profiled cover.

Such a profiled cover can be formed at low cost by extruding it fromplastic.

To attach it the profiled cover preferably has a spring which locks intothe gap. This and where necessary further attachment means interactingwith it are, when the profiled cover is fitted, hidden inside the gapand thus do not detract from the outside appearance of the door.

Since an option for adjusting the panels in relation to each othershould be provided not only in the plane of the panels, but alsoperpendicular to this, the surfaces of the panels delimiting the gap arenot sufficient to clamp the springs of the profiled cover. Thus a rigidelement is preferably arranged in the gap which delimits a grooveclamping the spring.

To make it more difficult for the spring to disengage from the groovethe rigid element is preferably provided with claws protruding into thegroove.

The rigid element can especially be an attachment bracket, the first oftwo arms of which is held on a rear side of the decor panel and thesecond attached to a flank of the appliance-side plate in order to jointhe two panels to each other.

These two arms can be connected by an intermediate section held at adistance from the decor panel, which together with the decor paneldelimits said groove.

An especially simple assembly of the door is made possible if the firstattachment bracket is inserted into the gap between the decor plate anda strap attached to the decor plate.

Alternatively a tab can be bent round from an edge of the first armwhich, together with the decor panel, delimits the groove.

Preferably the profiled cover not only extends over the gap but alsoover the second arm of the attachment bracket, so that this is alsoinvisible when the profiled cover is fitted.

Further features and advantages of the invention emerge from thedescription of exemplary embodiments given below which refer to theenclosed figures. The figures show:

FIG. 1 a perspective view of a refrigerator in which the decor panel hasbeen left off to enable the appliance-side plate of the door and theattachment means accommodated on this for adjustable attachment of thedecor panel to the appliance-side plate to be shown;

FIG. 2 a horizontal part section through the inventive door in the planedefined by two lines II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 a perspective view of a part of the profiled cover;

FIG. 4 a partial section through the inventive door in the horizontalplane defined by lines IV, IV in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 a partial section through the inventive door in the verticalplane defined by the lines V, V in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 a piece of a profiled cover provided for fitting to the top edgeof the door.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the upper front area of a householdrefrigerator, on which the inventive door is used. Visible in thediagram are the appliance-side door plate 1 which is connected via amulti-joint hinge 2 to a carcass 3 of the refrigerator. Theappliance-side door plate 1 is realized in a conventional way as ahollow body filled with a foamed polymer material. Two pairs of blindthreaded holes are located in the upper edge of the door panel 1. Anadjustment rail 4 has a base plate 5 extending essentially over theentire width of the appliance-side door plate 1 and two tabs 6 bent at aright angle away from the base plate. Punched into the tabs 6 are two onthe holes aligned to the blind thread holes in each case. In one blindthread hole of each pair is located a special screw, of which the headis a plate, which is hidden in the figure under the tab 6 and is largerthan the hole, so that the tab is supported on it and a pin protrudingaxially from the plate, which passes through the hole to allow play andmakes it possible to turn the special screw below the tab 6 thus toadjust the height of the adjustment rail or of the decor panel attachedto it. In the other blind threaded hole is a screw 7, which holds thetab 6 pressed against the plate and thus immobilizes the adjustment rail4 on the appliance side door plate 1.

The base plate 5 is stiffened by a flat impressed rib 9 from whichoutriggers extend into the tab 6. At two points 10 the rib reaches up tothe upper edge of the base plate 5; here a claw 11 is impressed into therib in each case, the function of which will be explained later.

On the side edges of the base plate 5, adjacent to the side flanks 12 ofthe appliance-side door plate 1, are two tabs 13 bent out at rightangles from the plane of the base plate 5 towards the door plate 1; theyare also provided with impressed claws 11.

A plurality of holes 14 of the base plate 5 is provided, in order toattach a decor panel 15 with the aid of screws inserted through theholes (see FIGS. 2 and 4) resting on the base plate. When this has beendone the locations 10 or the tabs 13 together with the opposite decorpanel 15 form an insertion groove open through to the flank of theappliance-side door plate 1 into which the claws 11 protrude.

On the side flanks 12 of the appliance-side door plate 1 a number ofmounting brackets 16 formed like the adjustment rail from one strongmetal sheet are attached with the aid of a screw 7 which engages througha slot in a first arm 17 of the angle bracket 16 into a blind threadedhole on the flank 12. A second arm 18 of the angle bracket 16 is able tobe defined by moving the slot on the screw 7 at an adjustable distancefrom the appliance-side door plate 1. Between the two arms 17, 18 anintermediate section 19 is formed on the mounting bracket 16 offset inparallel in relation to the second arm 18 from which once again twoclaws 11 protrude.

A bracket 20, also formed from metal, shown in the figure behind thesecond arm 18 is not permanently connected to the mounting bracket 16but is provided to be attached to the decor panel 15 with the aid of twoscrews 21, in order in this way to form a slit between a center sectionof the arm 20 and the decor panel 14 in which the second arm 18 can beinserted from a sideways direction.

A slot 22 impressed into the second arm 18 facilitates establishment ofa friction fit between the second arm 18 and the slit on introduction ofthe arm into this.

FIG. 2 shows a part section through the inventive door, now with thedecor panel 15 at the height of the mounting bracket 16. It can be seenthat the more rigid anchoring because of the blind hole thread for thescrew 7 in the appliance-side door plate is formed by a massive plasticbody 24 let into the expanded polymer material 23 and attached to theouter skin of the door plate 1.

Into an insertion groove 25 delimited on one side by the intermediatesection 19 and on the other side by the decor panel 15 is inserted aspring 26 of a plastic profile strip 27 and is held with the aid of theclaws 11 protruding into the insertion groove 25. FIG. 3 shows a sectionof the profile strip 27 in a perspective view. It includes a bar 28connecting at right angles to the spring 26 with a straight line section29 of uniform thickness and an edge section of 30 bent inwards runningoutwards to a point.

The width of the bar 28 is slightly larger than that of the first arm 17of the mounting bracket 16 so that the profile strip completely hidesboth the mounting bracket 16 and the screw 7 as well as the gap 31 heldopen between the appliance-side door plate 1 and the decor panel 15. Asa result of the curvature of the edge section 30 the profile strip 27engages over the head of the screw 7 and on that side of the screw 7close to the side of the door plate 1 facing the carcass, touches itsflank 12.

On the horizontal section shown in FIG. 4 along and the plane defined inFIG. 1 by the lines IV, IV it can be seen that the profile strip 27 inthe vicinity of its upper end is held in the same way in an insertiongroove 32 delimited on one side by the tab 13 of the adjustment rail andon the other side by the decor panel 15, as is shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows a part section through the door along the plane designatedby the line V-V in FIG. 1. Here too an insertion groove is presentbetween the locations 10 of the rib 9 and the decor panel 14 which gripsthe bar 28 of the profile strip 27. Since the positions 10 however onlyhave a limited width the bar 28 must also be cut away at the side toenable it to be inserted into the groove. FIG. 6 shows a perspectiveview of an end section of such a profile strip 27 with a bar 28 cut awayat the sides. To the side of the section to be inserted at point 10 inareas 33, 34, the bar is not completely cut away but only reduced in itswidth in order not to unnecessarily reduce the bending strength of theprofile strip 27. At the upper end 35 of the profile strip in the bar a45° miter is cut to allow a seamless connection to the profile of stripextending along at the side flanks 12.

As described above for the upper and side flanks of the door plate 1, aprofile strip can of course also be clipped onto its lower flank. Thisis however generally not necessary since this flank is not generallyvisible when the device is used and there is also no danger of objectspenetrating into the gap 31 here.

1-9. (canceled)
 10. A door for a household appliance, the doorcomprising: a.) a door body having an appliance-side plate; b.) anouter-side decorative panel, the outer-side decorative panel beingspaced from the appliance-side plate by a gap such that, as viewed in adirection from a rear portion of the door toward a front portion of thedoor, the appliance-side plate is further toward the rear portion of thedoor than both the outer-side decorative panel and the gap with the gapintermediate the outer-side decorative panel and the appliance-sideplate; and c.) a profiled cover, the profiled cover extending at leastbetween a portion of a side of the appliance-side plate to a portion ofa side of the outer-side decorative panel such that the profiled covercloses off a side edge extent of the gap delimited between the sideportion of the appliance-side plate and the side portion of theouter-side decorative panel.
 11. The door as claimed in claim 10,wherein the profiled cover includes a spring penetrating into the gap.12. The door as claimed in claim 11 and further comprising a rigidelement extending from the appliance-side plate across the gap towardthe outer-side decorative panel and having a portion at a spacing fromthe outer-side decorative panel such that a groove is delimited betweenthe outer-side decorative panel and the portion of the rigid elementwith the groove receiving therein the spring element of the profiledcover.
 13. The door as claimed in claim 12, wherein the rigid elementincludes claws protruding into the groove for engaging the springelement of the profiled cover.
 14. The door as claimed in claim12,-wherein the rigid element is an angle bracket having two arms withone of the arms being held on a rear side of the outer-side decorativepanel and the other of the arms being attached to a flank of theappliance-side plate.
 15. The door as claimed in claim 14, wherein thetwo arms of the rigid element are connected via an intermediate sectionspaced from the outer-side decorative panel and the intermediate sectiontogether with the outer-side decorative panel delimits the groove. 16.The door as claimed in claim 14, wherein the one arm of the rigidelement is inserted into a bracket gap formed between the outer-sidedecorative panel and a bracket attached to the outer-side decorativepanel.
 17. The door as claimed in claim 14 and further comprising a tabbent outwardly at a right angle from an edge of the one arms of therigid element and the tab and the outer-side decorative panel delimitthe groove.
 18. The door as claimed in claim 14, wherein the profiledcover extends over the other arm of the rigid element.